Gitanjali Song Offerings

by Rabindranath Tagore

Even though the English translation of Gitanjali bears the same name as the original Bengali edition,the poems featured in the two editions are neitheridentical nor the same in number.The original Bengali edition had 157 poems as against the 103 prose pieces in the English edition.These 103 'verses' are again translations of 104 poems in Bengali.This is because one English verse (verse 103) is a combined translation of two Bengali poems.On the left hand pages are featured the manuscripts of the original Bengali poems.The English translations done by the poet himself appear on the right hand pages.Wherever the original Bengali manuscript is not available the Bengali version of the poem has been reproduced.